Habituation to a Deterrent Plant Alkaloid Develops Faster in the Specialist Herbivore Helicoverpa assulta Than in Its Generalist Congener Helicoverpa armigera and Coincides with Taste Neuron Desensitisation
The two closely related moth species, Helicoverpa armigera and H.assulta differ strongly in their degree of host-plant specialism.In dual-choice leaf disk assays, esab miniarc rogue caterpillars of the two species that had been reared on standard artificial diet were strongly deterred by the plant-derived alkaloid strychnine.However, caterpillars o